Islam

Islam is the only post-Christian religion of worldwide scope. The number of Muslims in 1987 was estimated at about 800 million. The countries with the largest groups of Muslims were Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and the Soviet Union. As a post-Christian world religion, Islam accepts Jesus as one of the prophets preceding the last prophet, Muhammad. Through Muhammad, Allah has, according to Islamic belief, spoken his final word to the world. This word has been preserved in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. The word of Allah has become book. Christians have gone astray by deifying their prophet Jesus and by developing a trinitarian concept of God. The crucifixion of Jesus is rejected as contrary to the power and the will of God. Islam emphasizes the freedom and sovereignty of Allah, who requires submission and obedience to his will, expressed in the laws. These laws cover human life in all of its different aspects. The Islamic community, a religious-political community, is regarded as the best of all the communities in the world. It is intended to be a victorious community. One of the reasons of the crisis in modern Islam is the discrepancy between divine intention and historic reality.

Christian missions have not made a deep impact in the Islamic world. Muslims resist Christian missions firmly and change of religion is seen as betrayal of the community to which a Muslim belongs.